10 Actions to Take Immediately After a Major Emergency

(Modern Survival.org) – Emergency situations can be dangerous, especially when decisions are being made under duress. Stress and panic can lead to deadly mistakes. Establishing a plan of action before facing a disaster of any kind is one way to ensure everyone has the best chance of making it out safely.

In the following video, City Prepping outlines ten actions to take immediately following any major disaster:

The following steps are presented in chronological order, from the first action to the last:

1. Establish communication. Once the emergency situation has been identified, establishing lines of communication with family and those who belong to your survival group should be the first priority.
2. Assessment. Once the core group has gathered, it’s time to take a look at the situation. Is anyone injured? Is it safe to stay put? Will bugging out be required? How bad is it out there?
3. Bug in or bug out. After assessing the situation, it is time to either bug home, bug in or bug out to a predetermined location. This decision will depend on the specifics of the type of disaster, and the information gathered about it. For example, if it isn’t safe at home, then bugging out may be the best bet.
4. Secure the location. Now is the time to lock down the chosen location to keep it safe. Looting is commonplace following natural disasters. In the event of a full-scale SHTF scenario, people will become desperate for help and could resort to violence to get it.
5. Establish operations security (OPSEC). OPSEC means keeping the supplies and movements of the group hidden from prying eyes. Without a reason to suspect your group is any better off than the rest of the world, desperate souls will be less likely to target your location.
6. Blend in. Embrace the gray man concept now, which could mean different things depending on the situation. If everyone is starving and desperate, then it is best to appear that way as well. This goes hand-in-hand with OPSEC. Do whatever is possible to avoid raising suspicions that your group is doing better than the rest of the world around them.
7. Get information. Depending on the nature of the emergency, staying informed can be vital. Just as keeping your group’s information hidden is important, knowing what is going on around them is vital as well. For example, if the situation begins to deteriorate, the group may need to consider going back to step two and bugging out to a new location.
8. Avoid large gatherings. Large crowds can devolve into violent riots in a hurry, especially when people are scared and desperate. Even something as simple as a trip to the grocery store can become a life-threatening situation following a disaster. If people will fight over televisions on Black Friday, it’s a safe bet they will do so over the last bag of bread, too.
9. Shelter in Place. It is best to stay put for two to four weeks at the onset of a SHTF situation if possible. For starters, everyone will be panicking at the beginning — leading to mass chaos. Events will spiral out of hand quickly, and those without the foresight to prepare ahead of time will likely be gone by the end of this time period. Don’t go out unless it becomes absolutely necessary during this critical time period.
10. Decide the Next Steps. If it is apparent that the world isn’t going back to normal any time soon, some hard decisions will be required. Is there enough supplies to stay at the current location indefinitely? Will bugging out (possibly again) be necessary? The more intel you can gather on your surroundings and the nature of the disaster, the easier these decisions will be.

The more preparation that’s done before an emergency, the better the chances of surviving it. From stockpiling essential supplies to finding suitable locations to evacuate to, the more you know, the better off you will be when it counts.

When it comes to bug-out locations, not everyone can afford to purchase property to run to when times get bad. For some insight on what other options are available when it comes time to evacuate, check out our article here.

~Here’s to Your Survival!